Conventionally, in a flat knitting machine, there is provided a set-up device which is disposed below a gap between a pair of front and rear needle beds. The set-up device pulls down a knitting yarn supplied as the set-up portion of a fabric being knitted to thereby apply a tension to the completely knitted fabric and thus prevent stitches retained to knitting needles from moving apart from the knitting needles, so that the set-up device can pull down the knitted fabric until the knitted fabric is held by a roller type of wind-down device. As the above-described set-up device, the present applicant discloses a slider opening/closing type of set-up device in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,684 and 5,040,384.
In a set-up device used in an ordinary flat knitting machine, setting-up needles juxtaposed side by side in a setting-up needle bed are all pulled down while they are held at the same height. Therefore, such a set-up device is suitable to knit a fabric in which the number of knitted courses is uniform in every wales. However, when knitting a fabric in which the number of knitted courses varies from wale to wale, the set-up device is not able to apply an appropriate pull-down tension to the respective wales. In view of this, when knitting a fabric in which the number of knitted courses varies from wale to wale, (in order that the pull-down tension can be made as uniform as possible in order that the respective portions of the fabric be knitted in parallel according to a ratio between the numbers of knitted courses), it is necessary to create the knitting data with the numbers of the knitted courses of the respective portions taken into consideration. However, merely adjusting the numbers of knitted courses is not sufficient to attain the above object. Therefore, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-60443, there is disclosed a method in which a collar portion referred to as a wing collar is knitted by flechage following a sacrificially knitted portion to thereby enable to knit a fabric for a collar in which the number of knitted courses varies from wale to wale. However, when the fabric for a collar is knitted following the sacrificial knitting in this manner, the knitting yarn is consumed wastefully for the sacrificial knitting.
As a preceding invention relating to a set-up device made by the present applicant, there exists Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-26472. In the device disclosed in this publication, there is mounted a spring which is used to bias individual setting-up needles in their pull-down direction. In the set-up device, a knitted fabric is released from the setting-up needles by a fabric release plate which pushes out the knitted fabric in a direction where the knitted fabric can be removed from the hooks of the setting-up needles. However, with use of this method in which the knitted fabric is released by the fabric release plate, if the knitted fabric is one having the number of knitted courses varies from wale to wale, the distance between the portion of the knitted fabric to be contacted by the fabric release plate and the set-up portion of the knitted fabric varies from wale to wale. Thus, this causes the case a problem that the knitted fabric is hard to be released from the setting-up needles in the areas having a large number of knitted courses. Also, a space, which exists below a gap between the front and rear needle beds and in which the fabric release plate is disposed, is limited. Therefore, the fabric release plate is disposed at a position further lower than just below the gap. And, in the case of the knitted fabric such as the wing collar disclosed in the above-cited Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-60443, the number of knitted courses in the knitted fabric is small. Accordingly, in most cases, the fabric is not knitted so long as to be released by the above-described fabric release plate. In this case, of course, the knitted fabric cannot be released by the fabric release plate.
As described above, according to the method in which the knitted fabric is released by the fabric release plate, the knitted fabric can be released only when the distance between the setting-up needles and fabric release plate is a certain long distance. However, in other distances, there is a possibility that the knitted fabric cannot be released from the setting-up needles. Therefore, in the set-up device disclosed in the above-described Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-26472, it is difficult to knit a fabric in which the number of knitted courses varies greatly from wale to wale. Also, in a flat knitting machine using the slider opening/closing type of setting needles disclosed in the above-described U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,684 and 5,040,384, there is disclosed a mechanism in which there is formed a position controlling butt in the slider or in the setting-up needle body, and a cam is engaged with or removed from the butt to thereby control the appearance or retreat of the hook of the setting-up needles, so that holding and release of the knitted fabric can be controlled regardless of the fabric to be knitted. However, in this publication, there is no disclosure relating to a method for holding and releasing the knitted fabric when the individual setting-up needles are so formed as to be independently movable. The set-up device of the present invention aims at-solving the above-described problems in the conventional set-up devices.